


Soul Reversal

by Sophisticated_Adult



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Give Manjoume Light And Darkness Dragon 2k19, M/M, Roleswap AU, but that doesn't mean my boy didn't get robbed in the anime, not that the Ojamas aren't good and important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-24 12:47:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18165404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophisticated_Adult/pseuds/Sophisticated_Adult
Summary: The roleswap AU no one asked for, featuring clueless rich boy Judai and bitter Very Much Not Rich Manjoume.May or may not ever be updated but it's a fun concept I thought I'd throw up what I had of it on here.





	Soul Reversal

**Author's Note:**

> So I've had this idea for about a year and a bit and at some point you just have to be like 'post the goddamn thing already.' I am garbage at long form fic so this might not ever be continued but eh. Here is the thing. why yes I did look up the word 'reverse' on the YGO wiki to find a title, why do you ask
> 
> (Note: not a 1:1 conversion of 'Manjoume does everything Judai does in canon' because that's boring and Judai has incurable Main Character Syndrome)

Manjoume was not late.

He took calm, measured steps towards KaibaCorp, absolutely certain he had the skills to take him to the furthest heights. He clutched his exam pass in his hand, not wanting to have to dig through his meagre possessions in his bag once he got there. He refused to keep his head down, but no-one looked at him twice.

No-one until he turned a path towards his destiny, and someone called out to him: “Hey.” 

Manjoume stopped, looked around, and nearly did a double take when he saw the person coming towards him.

“Y-you're –” he gasped in recognition, knees shaking slightly as the King of Games _smiled_ at him.

“You're a Duelist, right?” Manjoume nodded abruptly, hardly daring to breathe in case this turned out to not be real if he did. There wasn't anything indicating Manjoume was a Duelist except the precious bit of paper in his hand and maybe the way he'd been staring straight forward at KaibaCorp, but hell, who was he to argue that the King of Games had some kind of Duelist-sense? Said King of Games chuckled slightly, no doubt at his awestruck expression, and reached around to his deck holster.

“Here.” He held out a card. “It sounds strange, but please believe me when I say this card wants to go with you.” Manjoume took it dumbly, and nearly gasped when he saw it fully. It was a beautiful dragon, half white and half black, and was it strangely warm in his hands? God, he hoped he wasn't sweating. It had high attack, nearly as much as a Blue Eyes, and what looked at a quick glance to be an excellent shutdown effect to stop any monsters that might threaten to destroy it by other means. In short, it looked more rare and expensive than his entire deck put together, which was a mish-mash of whatever good or sort-of-good cards he could get his hands on – mostly normal monsters with decent stats, his beloved Armed Dragon, and any remotely useful magic and trap cards.

“I can't,” his shoulders shook, “I can't take this.” It was too much. It was the sort of card that won duels by itself, and was that really his own deck winning, his own skill, his own self? The King of Games seemed to recognise his meaning and smiled lightly. “It's all right. Even if you can't put it into your deck right now, consider it a good luck charm. Really –” he held up a hand as Manjoume opened his mouth to protest – “It can't be anybody else but you.” The look he gave was so utterly serious it was obvious there would be no arguing. 

“I – th-thank you,” Manjoume managed to stammer out. Normally he hated such charity, but this – there was no way he could refuse this. He decided he could handle a good luck charm, and pocketed the card. This earned him a real smile, and a soft, “Well, good luck.” He nearly stumbled as a hand clapped on his shoulder briefly – there was hidden strength there, despite the light, slight build and gently innocent face.

It was one hell of a confidence-booster, anyway; after they parted ways he walked on clouds the whole way there, right past the KC gates and up to the assistant he handed his pass to and said “Number 7, Manjoume Jun.” He'd planned to arrive fifteen minutes early, and the incredible encounter hadn't taken that – 

“Seven? Ah, I'm sorry, Manjoume-kun, your group's duels finished some time ago.”

“Wh-what?!” He snatched the bit of paper away, there was no way, he'd obsessively checked it – “Here, right here, it says two-fifteen!”

“Oh, it looks like they've put the time for the 70s, they're starting soon.” The man causally adjusted his glasses like the whole world wasn't cracking in two right in front of him. “Well – come and wait in the hall, I'll speak to the supervisor, you are technically early given the time on your letter.” An angry response would not help, Manjoume had to tell himself, this person was willing to try and save him.

He was dumped by the entrance as the assistant began to make his way over to the other side of the large auditorium. Countless duels were taking place below, monsters summoned and destroyed in particles of light all across the floor, but those duelling all only had eyes for their opponent. Another boy was watching the duels, barely coming up to the railing he was leaning on and sporting an impressive cyan triangle of an hairdo.

“Oh, are you coming up soon?” The boy asked, looking up at him with huge grey eyes. Manjoume tried to track the assistant's progress around the walkways, but – this boy was a potential classmate, and it would be rude to ignore him.

“I'm Marufuji Shou,” the boy introduced himself without prompting. “Number 119...it's going to take ages to get to me.” He stared down at the ground forlornly.

“At least you got here,” Manjoume said, feeling like an asshole even as he repeated, “Number 7, Manjoume Jun.”

“Seven?” Another boy coming up the aisles overheard as he took a seat just below them and turned around in the chair. “They've –”

“I know,” Manjoume said curtly, hackles already rising at the unwanted sympathy dripping from his tone. “There was a mistake on my letter. They're going to rectify it.” He wasn't leaving this damn place until he got his duel, not after everything, not after more or less getting the King of Games' own personal blessing.

“What! That's terrible!” Marufuji gasped, looking genuinely stricken.

“That's a shame,” the other boy said, still in a manner that made Manjoume want to strangle him. “You look like a good opponent. Number 1, Misawa Daichi.”

\---

With the high of _Manjoume Thunder_ still rolling, he just laughed when Chronos demanded that no, he also had to defeat some Obelisk Blue kid instead, only then would Manjoume be allowed to sully the hallowed halls of Duel Academia with his presence. He'd expected to hate anyone wearing the blue uniform immediately anyway, so he wasn't surprised by the absolute dislike coiling inside his gut at the way Yuki Judai laughingly said “sure thing, sensei,” and proceeded to act like he was having the time of his life through the whole Duel - not like it had Manjoume's entire future riding on it or anything.

Any other rich idiot, he could ignore easily enough. It was as Flame Wingman punched through Armed Dragon like it was nothing, as the hologram representing his most faithful card burst apart right in front of him, as his life points dropped to 0, as Manjoume dropped to his knees, stunned, as Yuki cheered, “wow! That was a super, super-awesome duel!” that a very, very special hatred took hold.

“Manjoume!” He looked up. His opponent – had he vaulted the platform and sprinted across the stage to get here so fast? – grabbed his hands. They stood out in stark contrast, pale gangly things, to Yuki's soft, well-looked after ones. “That was really great! That was the best Duel I've ever had! Hey, Chronos-sensei! Please, let him join, I've never, ever felt that way during a Duel before!” Manjoume looked up sharply, face twisting in anger and desperately wanting to shake him off, that he didn't _need_ his help – 

But he did. Manjoume could simply not afford to explode at him like he so dearly wanted to. Manjoume risked a glance at Chronos instead and wished he hadn't, that was a horrible smirk and the man couldn't pull off cunning and calculating to save his life.

“Ah, Signore Judai, you vouch for him?” He asked, eyes locked on Manjoume while he struggled upright, slapping at Judai's hands and trying to gather his cards. Judai nodded enthusiastically with his whole being, the way a dog overloaded with pure happiness might. 

“Yeah! I mean, if it's a problem, I can like, pay for him myself, or something.” He shrugged nonchalantly, missing the way Manjoume stiffened. That was too much.

“I don't _need_ your help–” he snarled, turning on him just as Chronos clapped his hands together and said, “that certainly won't be necessary, Signore Judai, but I would be a fool not to listen to you on matters such as this! Signore Manjoume, you will have a place waiting for you at Osiris Red. Don't be late.” With that, he just...left. 

“Do _not_ touch me,” Manjoume snapped. Judai backed off and, to his credit, wasn't stupid enough to try to help get his deck back together. Manjoume paused slightly over Armed Dragon, offering a silent apology in his head as he plucked the card from the field. He would do better, next time.

“Well!” Judai beamed. “I can't wait to duel you again, Manjoume!”

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr is http://of-nyon.tumblr.com/ if you want to come and yell at me, mostly about robots but I will also take asks about Manjoume as he is my trashlord garbage son


End file.
